At St. Alban's we recognise that our pupils are growing up in an increasingly complex world, living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks.

As a school, we want to equip our pupils with the knowledge needed to make the best use of the internet and technology in a safe, considered and respectful way, so they are able to reap the benefits of the online world.

Safer Internet Day 2025 took place on the 11^th of February 2025, with celebrations and learning based around the theme:

‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. This year Safer Internet Day focused on the issue of scams online and for young people, how to protect themselves and others, as well as what support is available to them.

This Safer Internet Day we looked the real scale of this issue and pupils had the opportunity to share their experiences and ideas on how to tackle the problem. Pupils learnt about the important work being done to raise awareness of issues scams and answered questions such as:

• How is changing technology like generative AI going to impact the approach of scammers?
• What role can the government and internet industry take to tackle this threat?
• And what changes would young people like to see to help protect themselves moving forward?

We rounded of a fantastic Safer Internet Day with an assembly led by our brilliant Digital Leaders.  The key message was loud and clear: Is it too good to be true?

There are four key potential risks children may encounter as they explore, play, and create inside the virtual world of Roblox: being contacted by ill-intentioned adults, encountering inappropriate adult content, facing online bullying from their peers, and overspending inside the Roblox Catalog.

Introduction:

At St. Alban’s we believe that educating our pupils in how to stay safe in the online world is as important as teaching them about any other element of keeping safe. For example, you would never allow your child to talk to a stranger on the street, likewise you would never allow your child to talk to people they never knew on computer games or on social media.  Raising awareness of staying safe online is not just taught through computing, it is weaved throughout our curriculum so pupils recognise its importance in their daily lives and develop an awareness of how to stay safe online both in the school environment and beyond.

Useful Websites:

We have provided links to useful websites below for children and parents to access for guidance and advice.

Parental Guidance for Online Games and Apps:

Navigating the world of online gaming and the latest apps can be daunting for many adults.  Here we have attached links to valuable information about games and apps that your child may be using or want to use.